Source
Automatically imported from: http://commons.somewhere.com:80/rre/1994/ocean.noise.html
Content
This web service brought to you by Somewhere.Com, LLC.
ocean noise
```
Date: Mon, 28 Mar 94 12:34:37 EST
From: Kevin Seel
------ Begin Included Message -----
Forwarded-by: Anne McDuffie
Subj: PseudoScience Marches On Section: Community Square To: All Tuesday, March 22, 1994 08:22:12 PM From: Joel Preisler, 72767,401 #199967
Hi folks...
I'm saddened to report that today (3/22), the LA Times reports on its front page that researchers at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in San Diego, California have proposed one of the most astoundingly stupid and potentially destructive experiments it's ever been my displeasure to read about in advance.
To be funded largely by DOD, the proposed $35 million experiment is designed to test whether the Pacific Ocean's temperature is rising due to global warming, and will involve the placement of loudspeakers on the ocean floor. One set is to be situated about 25 miles offshore of Big Sur, California (well within the southern flank of the Monterey Marine Sanctuary) at a depth of 850 meters, and another on the ocean floor off the so-called "Garden Island" of Kauai, Hawaii.
These loudspeakers will be used to transmit some sort of low frequency (but not so low as to be inaudible to humans, apparently) sound (described as resembling the sound made by a bowling ball rolling down a lane) at a volume of 195 db -- 10,000,000 (yes, that's 10 million) times louder than the 120 db level at which humans suffer damage from sounds transmitted through the air, and loud enough to be heard in New Zealand -- for 20 minutes every 4 hours over a 2 year trial period, following which the program would be expanded to include a network of transmitters and receivers around the Pacific that would be operated on a similar schedule until the year 2004.
Scripps estimates its broadcasts off the California coast alone would result in a maximum potential "take" -- their euphamism for the number of marine animals that will die because this ear-shattering sound will permanently destroy their hearing and thus their ability to navigate, hunt, and communicate -- of 26,000 whales belonging to 10 species; 406,000 dolphins belonging to 8 species; and 245,000 seals, sea lions, and elephant seals. And that's during the FIRST YEAR of the experiment!
As one expert quoted in the article states, "A deaf whale is a dead whale." A second expert estimates that the feeding and mating behavior of a half-million marine mammals in the Pacific (in addition to those killed) may be permanently and adversely affected by the constant level of noise pollution to be produced by the Scripps experiment.
At present, the Scripps application to proceed is before the National Marine Fisheries Service's permit office. The LA Times article was apparently prompted by a hearing on the project that is to be held by the NMFS in Silver Springs, Maryland TODAY (3/22).
Scripps is applying for a permit to exempt it from any and all existing federal regulations that protect marine mammals from harrassment, hunting and killing by humans. The NMFS' decision as to whether or not to grant the permit will be forthcoming very shortly -- in a matter of weeks -- because the experiment is currently scheduled to begin this Spring.
I'm no "Save the Whales" nut, but I personally have no intention of sitting off quietly on the sidelines on this one, either. In my opinion, this is an example of federally-financed scientific expediency at its worst.
Aren't Scripps' scientists quite capable of developing/deploying an equally affordable way to take these admittedly-important measurements -- a passive sensor net of some sort -- that won't require the taking of any marine life, let alone the incredible numbers of already-protected species estimated in Scripps' own proposal? And if not, should these people really be described as scientists at all?
Time is short; the window for public comment closes Friday.
Call everybody you can think of, and then ten more you can't. You can use E-Mail and Congressgrams to contact the President, Vice President, your Senators and Representative -- but better yet, call them all personally.
The telephone number for the Administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service, where the permit is under consideration, is 301-713-2239.
Regards, JP
P.S. - Please feel free to redistribute this message -anywhere- you want.
---
Subj: PseudoScience - Update Section: Community Square To: Joel Preisler, 72767,401 Thursday, March 24, 1994 10:37:04 AM From: Edward P. Butler, 76344,2250 #200550
Got through to the number - bad news is you have to mail or fax to be counted, so fax to 301-713-0376 or write (postmark tomorrow is OK) to 1315 East-West Highway, Room 13130, Silver Springs MD 20910, att. Carol Fairfield.
Go to it!
---
------ End Included Message -----
Date: Tue, 29 Mar 1994 12:58:21 EST5EDT From: HAMLETT@social.chass.ncsu.edu Subject: PseudoScience Marches On
I called the National Marine Fisheries Service to find out some more about the Scripps ocean study. Apparently, they've been flooded with comments, and have extended the public comment period "until sometime in April." Again, phone calls won't do, you must fax or write. They're fax number is 301/713-0376, and they're mailing address is:
National Marine Fisheries Service 1315 East-West Hwy, Rm 13121 Silver Spring, MD 20910
Be sure to reference "ATOC" in your message, so they know which study you're commenting on.
They had no information to offer to the public, besides what's been published in the newspapers.
---
Dr. Patrick W. Hamlett, Director E-mail: PHAMLETT@NCSU.EDU Program on Science, Technology & Society EOS: PWHMDS@EOS.NCSU.EDU Division of Multidisciplinary Studies Phone: 919/515-7999 Box 7107 Fax: 919/515-1828 North Carolina State University Full Internet Address: Raleigh, NC 27695-7107 USA HAMLETT@SOCIAL.CHASS.NCSU.EDU ```
This web service brought to you by Somewhere.Com, LLC.